100 banned taxi drivers ‘potential threat’

ALMOST 100 taxi drivers have been banned from operating in the industry in the past three years because they are a potential threat to the public, official Garda figures have confirmed.

Details obtained by the Irish Examiner show since the start of 2007 a total of 44 drivers have seen their licences revoked over concerns about their previous criminal history.

During the same period, 48 licence applications made in the greater Dublin region were refused by gardaí under the fit and proper person rule.

Under the legal stipulation any person who applies for a public service vehicle (PSV) licence must be considered by officers to not be a potential threat to customers.

Among the issues officers examine are a person’s reputation, serious previous criminal convictions such as assault, and ongoing cases involving the applicant.

According to the Garda figures, a taxi driver licence is either revoked or refused every 10 days due to these concerns, with 18 cases being reported in 2007, 37 in 2008 and 27 last year.

However, despite the belief by officers that there was a clear public interest in blocking those involved from working as taxi drivers, during the same period six applicants successfully appealed to the local District Court against the decision.

The figures emerged less than a month after a Limerick taxi driver was sentenced to seven years in jail for raping a teenage customer.

A District Court judge had allowed John Ryan, 43, from Clonard in Westbury, Limerick, to continue working as a taxi driver after the allegations were made, despite concerns raised by the country’s most senior garda.

Mr Ryan was found guilty of the October 17, 2007, offence last November after picking the girl up from a Limerick city nightclub.

However, despite the severity of the allegations, the taxi driver successfully appealed a decision to remove his (PSV) licence at Limerick District Court on January 3, 2008.

The initial move to revoke Mr Ryan’s licence had been made by chief superintendent Willie Keane, who has since been promoted to assistant garda commissioner, when a file on the case had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Irish Taxi Drivers Federation has defended the controls placed on the industry, stating the existing vetting process shows that strict security is in place.

The group added a current five-year follow-up licence examination will change to a three-year rule over the coming months and that anyone with concerns over a taxi driver’s credentials should check for a five-digit roof sign, a yellow information page and a driver’s ID card with the expiry date clearly stated.

According to the Commission for Taxi Regulation, there are 1,570 wheelchair-accessible taxis, 19,569 taxis, 1,305 limousines and 4,497 hackneys in operation.